


Intimidation

by TheIcyQueen



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 00:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17314787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIcyQueen/pseuds/TheIcyQueen
Summary: When challenging one, you challenged both. There was truly no way to win.





	Intimidation

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a fantastic piece of artwork by SocialGrake on dA (https://www.deviantart.com/socialgrake/art/Intimidation-363013192)

"So, are you sure that you want to oppose me?"  
  
The corners of his mouth twitched up into the first hints of a self-assured smirk, bright eyes glinting dangerously beneath quirked brows. It was the look of a child watching the carnival roll into town--anticipatory, expectant,  _excited_. And why not? The challenge had been lobbed at him, but it would be another to answer the call, if the sudden disturbance in the looming darkness behind him was anything to go by.  
  
He was no great shakes at brawling, to be sure. Porcelain skin and glass bones, his mother's delicate face and his father's preference of flight over fight. As a child, he'd always been sickly and wan, and he'd wear those dark circles under his eyes well into adulthood. It was almost as though the development of his mind had taken all of the energy his small body could handle, the rest of his muscles falling into atrophy. Physically, Zexion was tiny, he was pallid, he was  _fragile_.   
  
But as in nature, things had a way of balancing out.  
  
From behind him, there was the sound of leather straining and stretching over thick, corded muscle. As his companion joined him, folding his formidable arms across the barrel-like expanse of his chest, the conceited grin on the boy's pale face only grew. "I'll give you one last opportunity to reassess your decision," he drawled, tone devoid of any last vestiges of uncertainty.    
  
Because challenging the Schemer meant challenging the Hero. And the Hero never lost.  
  
\---  
  
The very instant the gauntlet had been thrown, the moment the biting winds had started whistling through the hall, the lights stuttered out. They'd both immediately halted in their altercation, something in the air alerting them to more than a mere flickering of electricity, and when the overheads burst back into life, throwing the stretch of castle into stark contrast, they were proven correct. They'd gone from two to three in the blink of an eye, with no warning but a surge of darkness and shift in the ether.   
  
As he watched the newcomer step in front of him, clipped footfalls echoing dismally against the marble, Lexaeus was was reminded of his own lack of grace. He had been built to protect at any cost, to charge through any obstacle, to carry others to safety. He was stalwart and unflinching--a mountain in his own right--and his powers reflected that. Force of nature that he was, the world was at his fingertips in a manner that was more than just charmingly figurative. The earth bent to his will, shaking with his fury, splitting with his step. He could raise up the valleys and he could condemn peaks to the deepest abyss. But it hardly mattered, with his opponent suspended so far up and away from his turf, riding the razored winds with nary a concern.  
  
But where there was matter, mind was never terribly far away.  
  
It was a universally accepted fact that one did not battle the Hero without battling the Schemer. And the Schemer did not accept failure.  
  
He could smell the aged leaves of the book before he could hear them, rustling anxiously in the gusts tearing through the hall. His opponent paused as the book began to rise, and its owner followed suit. They  _all_  knew--had all learned the hard way--what monstrosities lurked within those yellowed pages, within the psyche of their reader. Lexaeus leveled his gaze with the other combatant's, voice low and measured as he offered him a chance to forfeit.   
  
"So, are you sure that you want to oppose me?

**Author's Note:**

> Reupload from 8/16/13.


End file.
